From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

The Upside of Unrequited (Simonverse, #2)

Becky Albertalli

Start date: April 1, 2018

Finish date: April 30, 2018

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the theme BOTM.
Theme: Humor
[close] Won the poll for the theme BOTM.
Theme: Humor

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 155 topics — 4,044 comments total

Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
By Bailey · 3 posts · 29 views

last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

* Stand Alone- The Summer of Broken Rules
By Bailey · 4 posts · 48 views

last updated Jul 08, 2025 08:57AM

showing 5 of 5 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 08, 2018 Kathryn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, ya-realistic-fic, best-of-2018

The mark of a good book is when you’re reading it feels like breathing oxygen.
Every word consumed is necessary for your very existence. And without it? You may just devolve into a useless, dried-up husk. And that’s what Becky Albertalli’s THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED is for me. Pure and utter oxygen.

I’ve had crushes on twenty-six people, twenty-five of whom are not Lin-Manuel Miranda

THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED centers on Molly. Molly of the twenty-six crushes and zero kisses. Cassie, Molly’s twin, is The mark of a good book is when you’re reading it feels like breathing oxygen.
Every word consumed is necessary for your very existence. And without it? You may just devolve into a useless, dried-up husk. And that’s what Becky Albertalli’s THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED is for me. Pure and utter oxygen.

I’ve had crushes on twenty-six people, twenty-five of whom are not Lin-Manuel Miranda

THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED centers on Molly. Molly of the twenty-six crushes and zero kisses. Cassie, Molly’s twin, is the exact opposite. She goes through women faster than most people go through toothbrushes. That is, until Cassie meets Mina and finally….FINALLY falls in love. Cassie wants Molly to “women up” and makeout with Mina’s best friend, Will. The prototypical cute, hipster. However, Molly finds herself unexpectedly attracted to nerdy, yet kind Reid. Will Molly pick the guy she “should” like or will she finally take the plunge and carve her own path?

Organic hemp….so I guess there are parents who like to roll their babies up like blunts.

Now I know THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED has rom-com written all over it. And it is--to a degree. I mean, I definitely had an immediate ship that was so intense I was forced (haha) to read spoilers to ensure my ship became endgame. Oh, and I also woke up my poor husband at least 5 times with squees so loud I think I arose all the neighborhood pets (sorry, Mr. & Mrs. Zinklestein).

Babies here are forced to declare their allegiance to vegetables before they’re old enough to say, “Suck it , Mom. I want ice cream.”

So yeah, THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED is a rom-com but it’s also gut-bustingly funny. It’s written at a quick, pithy clip akin to Lorelai Gilmore. But what elevates THE UPSIDE OF UNREQUITED from standard romantic fare is the truth it brings forth. The conversations that occur are important and relevant, like the concept of virginity as a misogynistic construct. It’s a story that needs to be told, especially for a generation experiencing through the #metoo movement.

SUMMARY: A must-read.
...more

24 likes · Like · see review

Sep 27, 2017 ╟ ♫ Tima ♪ ╣ ♥ rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-stars, genre-young-adult, read-in-2017, characters-lgbtqia

It felt empty.
It felt like it tried too hard to be extremely diverse without actually giving any of them personality.

It honestly felt like a starter script for an episode of The Fosters. Like, the bare bone skeleton script without any feeling.

I wanted to love them.
But it felt just so forced.
And it was disheartening to read another story about a fat girl who doesn’t feel pretty or loved until a boy likes her.

3 likes · Like · see review

May 11, 2017 Desa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, english, contemporary, kindle, lgbt, read-in-2017

2'5★ (y me sabe mal no redondearlo a 3★ finalmente, porque es Becky y el libro engancha y hay cosas buenas, but...creo que las cosas que no me han gustado hacen más sombra a lo que sí)

Tbh, la review de Emily May explica mucho mejor lo que pienso de este libro, pero voy a intentarlo...

Después de lo mucho que disfruté Simon vs the homo sapiens agenda, la historia de Molly ha sido... un poco decepcionante. Apenas he podido conectar con los personajes, y eso que quería amar a Molly y, francamente, e 2'5★ (y me sabe mal no redondearlo a 3★ finalmente, porque es Becky y el libro engancha y hay cosas buenas, but...creo que las cosas que no me han gustado hacen más sombra a lo que sí)

Tbh, la review de Emily May explica mucho mejor lo que pienso de este libro, pero voy a intentarlo...

Después de lo mucho que disfruté Simon vs the homo sapiens agenda, la historia de Molly ha sido... un poco decepcionante. Apenas he podido conectar con los personajes, y eso que quería amar a Molly y, francamente, ella tenia todas las papeletas para que me sintiera identificada. Pero tbh no ha sido así. Los personajes son...idk, están bien, pero ya. Apenas están desarrollados mas allá de sus relaciones románticas (o falta de) y eso me ha sorprendido. Incluso Molly, que es la que mas desarrollada está, me ha dejado fría, porque todo su arc gira en torno a sus inseguridades (lo que me parece bien y normal porque es algo con lo que mucha gente puede identificarse, en especial las chicas) y a su obsesión por tener novio y ser (por fin) besada. Pero ya está. Lo peor es que parece que todo eso desaparece cuando consigue novio y eso no me ha acabado de convencer? No sé, no creo que haya estado bien explicado ni desarrollado. Ni siquiera se si me estoy explicando, pero parece que esas inseguridades solo estén ahí porque eso es lo que se supone que le impide gustar a los chicos. Es cierto que muchas de sus inseguridades son on point, y que todas las chicas que somos o hemos sido gorditas hemos sentido alguna vez, pero cuando esas inseguridades se convierten simplemente en un plot device para los 'problemas' de la prota con los chicos...idk. Quizás el problema ha sido la ejecución, porque el mensaje que al final se transmite no creo que fuera el que Becky pretendía o uno positivo...o al menos yo lo he entendido así.

El libro tiene mucha diversidad, y eso es una gran punto a su favor. El problema? Esa diversidad es lo único que parece describir a ciertos personajes. La diversidad no tendría que ser una casillita que marcar y ya. Pero no voy a quitarle mérito.

En fin, me ha dejado un poco fría porque me esperaba más de la autora de Simon: esperaba profundidad y no solo un libro en que la protagonista no hiciera mas que pensar en chicos. Incluso la relación entre hermanas, que podría dar mucho de si y que se supone que es uno de los hilos conductores de la historia, queda relegada también a los problemas que surgen a consecuencia de las relaciones, lo mismo que las amistades, que solo hablan de eso. Quizás no es algo malo, pero definitivamente no ha sido para mi. Y el estilo de la escritura? Me ha parecido muy repetitivo y simple... o quizás sea que la voz de Molly no me ha llegado.

Aun así, no todo ha sido malo, la historia acaba enganchando y hasta es cute, pero eso no quita todo lo anterior. De todas formas confío en Becky, y estoy deseando leer la historia de Leah, que amé en Simon y me quedé con ganas de saber más de ella. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 10, 2017 Michael rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017, audio-book, young-adult, summer-reading-2017

While Molly Pescan-Suso has experienced 26 crushes in her life, she's rarely acted on them. Entering the summer before her senior year, Molly yearns to find the right person to share a first kiss with and possibly take things from being a crush to actually being her significant other.

Now, Molly has two possible new crushes on her radar -- the popular guy Wil and the fantasy t-shirt wearing, Reed. Which one, if either, will Molly chose makes up most of the drama and teen angst of The Upside of Un While Molly Pescan-Suso has experienced 26 crushes in her life, she's rarely acted on them. Entering the summer before her senior year, Molly yearns to find the right person to share a first kiss with and possibly take things from being a crush to actually being her significant other.

Now, Molly has two possible new crushes on her radar -- the popular guy Wil and the fantasy t-shirt wearing, Reed. Which one, if either, will Molly chose makes up most of the drama and teen angst of The Upside of Unrequited.

Becky Albertalli caught my attention last year with the funny, entertaining and thought-provoking Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda. And while Simon has an Easter egg cameo in this book, overall Upside ranks as one of the more disappointing stories I've read lately. Much of my frustration with the novel comes from its first-person narrator, Molly. Albertalli tries her best to make Molly self-deprecating about her lack of romantic experience, chalking a lot of it up to a lack of confidence because of her body type. Molly's own self-image isn't necessarily the most positive as she repeatedly refuses to believe that anyone else would find her attractive, despite there being signs from that two potential crushes might be interested in more than just being an unrequited object of her affection.

I get what Albertalli is trying to do with Molly and giving us the perspective of someone who is an outsider, looking in at what the "popular" kids (including her own twin sister) are doing. But it felt like Unrequited was getting a bit redundant and hitting all the expected romantic comedy touchstones for Molly instead of giving us an authentic journey for her. In the end, it feels only like Molly comes out of her shell because a boy likes her and not because she realizes that she has inherent worth as a person regardless of her external appearance.

Albertalli fills Upside with a diverse group of characters, many of whom feel one-dimensional. Too many of them feel like they're summed up by one or two characteristics instead of being fully realized characters.

It all adds up to a disappointing sophomore effort by Albertalli. Maybe my expectations were too high for this one. But I can't help but feel like this one had potential that it never quite lived up to. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 08, 2017 Lesa Divine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017, library, read-it, botm-selection

I enjoyed Molly's story. About a teen twin girl that's also on the heavy weight size that just want a boyfriend that wants to be kissed and loved. She's had numerous of crushes but they never knew she liked them because she won't never put herself out there to see if they felt the same way.
Her sister starts dating a girl name Mina. Mina and her sister Cassie is Keen in getting Molly hooked up with Mina friend Will. He's cute to Molly but if course she don't think he feels the same way about her. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2017 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: read-library, 2017

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of ...more

Like · see review